Did Catholics Remove the Second Commandment

Its common to hear Protestants claiming that Catholics removed the second commandment because they are interested in worshipping Graven images. This mistaken notion is comes from the fact that most Protestants do not realize that  the Scriptures do not number the commandments and secondly that the numbering of the ten commandments can be done using different methods leading to different numberings. In this article I will deal with the topic mainly showing that the Protestant numbering repeats the same commandment twice.

A short summary of the 10 Commandments numbering

	Catholic and Lutheran Numbering	Other Protestants Numbering
1	Do not commit Idolatry	Do not commit idolatry
2	Do not use God ‘s name in vain	Do not commit Idolatry
3	Keep the sabbath	Do not use God ‘s name in vain
4	Honor your Parents	Keep the sabbath
5	Do not Kill	Honor your Parents
6	Do not commit adultery	Do not Kill
7	Do not steal	Do not commit adultery
8	Do not bear false witness	Do not steal
9	Do not covet your neighbour ‘s wife	Do not bear false witness
10	Do not covet your neighbour ‘s goods	Do not covet your neighbour ‘s wife or goods

 Protestants do not realize the context of what they call the Second Commandment. Its not just a prohibition against making graving images for the sake of making them, but of making them in order to worship them. If one makes images and worships them, the person is guilty of Idolatry. Furthermore, the Catholics and Lutherans mainly use Deuteronomy Chapter 5, which divides “thou shalt not covet thy neighbors wife” and “thou shalt not covet thy neighbors goods” into two separate commandments and it seems to be obvious that what the Protestants call the First and Second Commandments about honoring the one God obviously go together as one Commandment which forbids Idolatry.

The Ten Commandments from Exodus 20 KJV

	Catholic	Protestant
1	3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.	3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2	7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.	4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
3	8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.	7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
4	12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.	8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
5	13 Thou shalt not kill.	12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
6	14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.	13 Thou shalt not kill.
7	15 Thou shalt not steal.	14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8	16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.	15 Thou shalt not steal.
9	17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife,	16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
10	17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.	17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

 

Which method of numbering is the best?

                  a. Splitting using Thou Shalt

                   This leads to having more than 10 commandments such that there will be need to merge several  commandmnets in order to make them 10.

b.      Splitting using the verses

This leads to having more than 10 commandments such that there will be need to merge several commandmnets in order to make them 10.

c.      Splitting using the sins forbidden

As I have used in my short summary, if the numbering focuses on which sin is being forbidden the numbering will be easier and more precise.